


back, back, back it up

by thir13enth



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, canonverse, ft our favorite Cabbage Man, like let's just say everyone lives in ba sing se post-canon, no bisexuals cannot drive, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:08:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29515104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thir13enth/pseuds/thir13enth
Summary: after an amazing date, zuko and katara attempt to make it upstairs for some netflix and chill. unfortunately, there is one obstacle they have yet to overcome before they make it to the inside of katara’s apartment — parallel parking.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 35





	back, back, back it up

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to the most cursed zk friends i know. [you know the vibes.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSpgaN3wuag)

This was a good third date, Zuko thinks to himself.

The restaurant served amazing food and delicious tea, and then afterwards, Katara and him strolled in a nearby park. They held hands while walking aimlessly in circles, and when they were tired of moving, they sat on a park bench in front of the fountain. She snuggled into his space and they sat like that, talking well past the sunset and into the evening when he could start to see the moon reflecting in her eyes.

And they even kissed! For the first time! And now he’s taking her home on his ostrich-horse and she has her arms wrapped tight around his waist, her soft breath on the back of his neck, his heart still pitter-pattering so fast he can barely think.

This is in _great contrast_ to his very first date with Katara. That day, his ostrich-horse did not budge from its afternoon slumber. He had to half-run, half-cartpool (aka share-riding with various produce and packages) all the way across Ba Sing Se on the other side of the city where she lived — ending up more than an hour late to pick her up. And then, of course, because he had actually bought tickets to a show and because Katara didn’t own her own ride (even after the War, you can’t beat Appa), they had to trek all the way to the theater on foot. And then, of course, the spirits decided to rain _hell_.

Both of them ended up drenched at the front entrance of the theater, and to make things even worse, they were denied entry inside because they quote “looked like a mess” — even _after_ Katara waterbended every drop of liquid off of them. And so, defeated, they ran to the nearest transit station for temporary shelter to wait out the storm, waving off every carriage that came by. And then, _of course_ , the rain never let up so Katara eventually offered to walk him all the way home, keeping them dry under a waterbent bubble, before going _all the way_ again across town to get back to her place because his ostrich-horse _still_ wouldn’t budge.

Why she stuck around him afterwards is beyond his imagination. After all the chaos of the first date, he expected to never hear from Katara from the Southern Water Tribe ever again.

Or _again_ after a mediocre second date — one where he had mostly been trying to make up for all the misgivings of the prior date.

 _Bad dates are not a bad thing_ , is what his uncle said when Zuko flopped onto his uncle’s couch over his weekend visit. _Then only the people that really like you stick around! You don’t have to waste time on the rest._

Perhaps his uncle was right all along.

(His uncle usually is.)

And Zuko knows this because he couldn’t stop smiling all night, his heart burning warmer than any fire he’s ever made.

“My apartment is coming up on the right,” Katara announces, and Zuko pulls in the rein for his ostrich-horse, slowing to a stop in front of a simple four-story building.

He turns his head around to bid her good night. “Thank you for spending the evening with me,” he tells her. “I really—“

She kisses him on the cheek then, interrupting him. “Yes, thank you, too,” she says then. “What about spending the rest of the night with me?”

His face flushes hot and he feels his eyes widen. “O-Oh! I mean... I... yes, that — I would like that,” he blubbers.

She flashes him a grin, as if satisfied — whether by his answer or by how flustered she made him, he can’t tell. “Good.”

“Uh,” and here, Zuko instinctively flicks the reins, urging his ostrich-horse to start a few steps again. “Where should I leave my ostrich-horse?”

“You can park it anywhere on this street — no parking fee after nine,” Katara relies, gesturing down the right side of the street. She leans to the right to peer over his shoulder for any available spots. “Oh, it’s usually much more empty. Don’t know why it’s so crowded.” She pauses, looking ahead a little more, then exclaims, “Right there! There’s a spot!”

Damn. He had been hoping she wouldn’t see that spot. He had seen it earlier and was hoping that he’d find another space further down the street.

Although from the looks of it, this is the best he’s getting tonight.

“You can fit,” she tells him. And then suddenly as if doubting herself, she looks up at him and asks, “Right?”

At this point, Zuko is too focused on trying to position his ostrich-horse to answer. “Uh... yeah,” he replies absentmindedly, eyebrows furrowed and head cocked to the right to check his corners. He breathes out sharply. “I’m terrible at parallel-parking,” he suddenly admits.

She blinks at him. “O-Oh! I think you’re doing great!” she reassures him, leaning to the left and to the right to check his sides. “All you have to do is back up!”

“Right, that’s the hardest part,” he murmurs to himself.

He briefly attempts to psych himself up. Only confidence can help him now.

He taps his ostrich-horse’s neck gently, gearing it into rear, then steadily backs his ostrich-horse into the spot as he pulls hard on the right rein. He constantly checks his corners, hoping that by the grace of Agni, he somehow manages parallel-parking without a seventy-two point turn and without fluffing any of his ostrich-horse’s feathers.

Agni does not bless him this evening.

“Fuck,” he curses. “I gotta have to start over.”

“No, no! I think you got it!” Katara tells him. “You just have to... you know—“ She makes some undefined motions with her arms reminiscent of pulling reins.

He studies her for a moment. “You don’t know how to do this either, do you?”

Caught bluffing, she grins. “No,” she tells him, then dropping her hands back to wrap around his waist again as he snaps his ostrich-horse back into forward to re-attempt.

He can’t help but laugh, despite his dilemma. He tries again, this time with not as acute of an angle — and by Agni, he actually thinks he can make it on this round! He looks forward, peering over the front edge of his ostrich-horse. He still needs just a few more inches back in order to fit completely in.

Looking backwards, he sees the cart parked behind him, filled to the brim and beyond with cabbages. The edge of the cart looks scary close to his tail, and he backs in one fraction of an inch in at a time, holding his breath the entire time.

Katara watches him maneuver his ostrich-horse, hanging tight to him with her left cheek pressed against his back. Her closeness feels nice — nice enough for Zuko to think for a second that maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to need multiple back-and-forths to parallel park if it means that Katara stays like this next to him.

But no, attempting to parallel park is hell, and Zuko would much more enjoy her closeness without the overhead stress of making sure he doesn’t hit either the carriage in front of him or the cart of cabbages behind him or run over the sidewalk or take so long and sweat so much that she can smell his nervousness or just not be able to park at all in the end.

“Do you... do you want me to get down and tell you when to stop?” Katara offers.

“Agni. _Yes._ Please. Thank you,” Zuko replies, without a beat.

Katara hops off then, and Zuko waits for her signal before starting again. He progresses backwards like this for a few more inches, adjusting his ostrich-horse forward and back as needed. Rest assured that she’ll stop him before —

“Wait, wait, wait!” she shrieks, arms outstretched. “You’re going to hit the—“

Zuko pulls in the reins immediately, but it’s too late —

His ostrich-horse lets out a squawk, its tail feathers bumping into the cart behind it.

Zuko curses, immediately hopping off his ostrich-horse to check the damages. Katara does the same, meeting him on the other side. Upon seeing that there isn’t even a nick on the cart, they both sigh in relief simultaneously.

Zuko, however, does notice that a _number_ of cabbages have been bumped off the cart — some of the cabbage heads crushed at the base of the cart’s wheels, others rolling far down the street and well out of their sight.

“Damn, I ruined this person’s cabbages,” Zuko says, his lips twisting into a frown.

She laughs, rushing over to his side to take his hand and lead him to the sidewalk. “It’s okay! It’s okay!” she assures him. “It’s just the cabbage guy’s cabbages — he has _a lot_ more wherever he’s coming from. He comes in with a _full_ cart of cabbages nearly every day. I’m sure he wouldn’t miss a few.”

“Still took a lot of tries to get into the right position,” he criticizes, eyeing his finalized parking job. “I’m so far from the curb.” 

“You did _amazing_ ,” she congratulates him, taking his face in her hands and turning his head to face her. She drapes her arms over his neck, then tiptoes to plant a kiss on his lips. “Only like ten or so vegetable casualties.”

He laughs softly before she captures his mouth. His eyes flutter closed instinctively, feeling her soft lips and his rising chest.

Second kiss ever from Katara. He still hasn’t gotten over the first.

“Can I admit something?” he asks in a soft exhale as she pulls back.

She nods, smiling. “What?”

“Believe it or not, that’s the best parallel park I’ve ever done.”

Her smile widens. “Well, that’s certainly better than I could ever do,” she replies, looking back at the ostrich-horse before pulling on his arm to bring his ear down to her mouth. “And can I also admit something?”

He nods, and she leans closer in.

“I’m really glad that actually didn’t take forever,” she whispers, her voice tickling the shell of his ear. “I don’t know if I could’ve waited much longer.”

Zuko doesn’t need much more direction than that.

And to be less than tact, Zuko has no more problems fitting into tight spots or gearing into the right positions for the rest of the night.

Satisfied, undone, and tangled in each other’s arms, they sleep very well and very late into the next day — they barely hear the distraught wail of Katara’s next-door neighbor at the crack of dawn that morning.

Something about his cabbages. Or something.

**Author's Note:**

> raise your hand if some days you find parallel parking harder than fucking hard. 
> 
> no, i dont know shit about riding horses. unfortunately i also went down a wikipedia hole about the actual use of terminology for parking a horse but the application of this word in this piece is very intentionally one-hundred percent different.
> 
> and yes, i only wrote this drabble so i could write about parallel parking an ostrich-horse. this will be my one (1) victory this week. alternatively, this fic is also a victory because it's the first non-nsfw "fade to black" in a very **very** long time.
> 
> scold me on [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/napsbeforesleep) or [tumblr](ahumanintraining.tumblr.com)


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